Employers striving for diverse workforces often encounter resistance or rely on rhetoric that does little to move the needle — a detriment to business, a recent academic article suggests, given evidence showing that diversity has widespread benefits as long as it is executed well.

Writing in Perspectives on Psychological Science, a group of nine researchers from seven universities highlighted the business benefits of diverse workforces and offered policy recommendations to achieve them without the conflict or backlash sometimes sparked by diversity initiatives.

"If you just increase diversity, you don't get the benefits if you don't manage it effectively," said Adam Galinsky, lead author of the paper and professor of management at Columbia Business School.

The report — which reviewed prior research on race, cultural and gender diversity — said "diversity increases creativity and innovation, promotes higher quality decisions, and enhances economic growth because it spurs deeper information processing and complex thinking," which allows diverse groups to "respond more effectively to dynamic contexts and unforeseen challenges." It is the opposite of the narrow-minded "groupthink" that can lead to "premature consensus" in homogenous groups.

Those benefits are true for diverse groups, because people are forced to consider more perspectives, as well as for individuals with diverse personal experiences, such as working or living abroad, as long as they are engaged in learning about others.

According to a McKinsey report last year, companies in the top quartile for racial and ethnic diversity are 35 percent more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians, and those in the top quartile for gender diversity are 15 percent more likely.

But companies that wish to promote diversity in their ranks often struggle to do it successfully. For example, diversity training can make people feel better about themselves without actually changing the demographics, Galinsky said.

Sometimes there is unintentional bias. For example, the report said, "masculine" language used in job advertisements, such as "dominant" or "competitive," has been found to lower the appeal of the job to women because they don't feel they would belong.

Other research, not cited in the report but described in an article earlier this year in Harvard Business Review, found that the most commonly used diversity programs do little to increase representation of women and minorities and could even have negative effects on office harmony by making white men feel they are being treated unfairly.

The new report proposed several policy solutions for maximizing the benefits of diversity while minimizing fallout from the efforts.

Among the most important, Galinsky said, is transparency. Requiring companies to report the distribution of demographics at different levels of the company creates accountability pressures.

Galinsky also highlighted mentorship programs that support both minority and majority groups, so that no one feels excluded.

A version of this article appeared in print on March 02, 2016, in the Business section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Report stresses the benefits of diversity at work - Experts say more perspectives aid creativity, growth" —
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